ANAHEIM, Calif. — Very often in life, you have little idea where the path you choose to take might lead you. Dwayne Polee II thought he knew exactly where he wanted to go, but that changed.

The first stop after a standout high school career in Los Angeles was across the country at St. John’s in Queens.

It took him only his freshman season at St. John’s — a successful first year — to realize that wasn’t the path he wanted to continue following.

So Polee returned west, transferring to San Diego State, just down Interstate 5 from where he grew up. Having changed his path, Polee had big plans when he returned to his home state, but along that path he found some obstacles.

He had been Steve Lavin’s first and biggest recruit at St. John’s in 2010 and went on to start 27 of 33 games for the Red Storm, including a 2011 NCAA Tournament game against Gonzaga, against whom he scored 12 points.

But there were things tugging at Polee. His mother, back in California, was having health problems and it sounded as if he simply wanted to return to his native state. So Polee transferred, seeking more comfort and more playing time.

Now Polee will be one of the Aztecs’ most crucial performers when they play No. 1 seed Arizona in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game at the Honda Center.

A touch of irony to Polee’s story: He hasn’t started a game for San Diego State in his two seasons there, and, in fact, did not even take his warm-ups off when the Aztecs lost to the Wildcats in November at Arizona.

That did not sit well with Polee, a 6-foot-7 junior, and he had a decision to make: He could brood about the snub or he could become stronger from it.

He chose the latter and has become one of the Aztecs’ most important players, having averaged 8.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game as their sixth man. In eight of the last 10 games, he’s scored 10 or more points, including each of the last four, during which he has averaged 15.5 points.

“Dwayne Polee comes from one of the premier high school programs in the nation, Westchester High School, he committed to St. John’s before we had a real, real chance at recruiting him,’’ San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. “When he chose to leave after his freshman year, we were his school of choice. When he became eligible, he had a lot of press clippings and accolades that followed him … and most people said, ‘What happened?’

“We started this year and he didn’t play against Arizona when we played them the first time. ‘Coach’s decision,’ not injured. But Dwayne is where he is now because of Dwayne’s attitude from the neck up. He never, ever did anything other than cheer for his teammates and smile when he was in the locker room — the hardest thing in the world to do, especially when you’re that ballyhooed.

“Then when he started to get significant minutes, he played well, and obviously he’s been crucial to the recent success of this team. He’s been terrific. He’s probably our best athlete. Some would say, ‘Why didn’t you play him sooner?’ Maybe it was as much opportunity as anything else — sustained opportunity, which he now has, and he’s taken full advantage of it better than anyone.’’

Polee called sitting in the Arizona game “really difficult because I’m a competitor.’’

“I love the game, and nobody takes sitting out of an important game easily,’’ he said. “It was hard, but I just kept working on my game, kept working hard in practice, getting with the coaches and trying to do whatever I had to do to get on the court.’’

He said the Arizona game experience “just made me work harder, it made me hungry, knowing I had to fight for what I want and earn it.”